MEET THE PRESS: NARDUZZI PREVIEWS OKLAHOMA STATE

Sept. 12, 2016

Pat Narduzzi Press Conference

Oklahoma State Week

Opening Statement:

"Just to close the chapter on last week's game, obviously it was an exciting win. I want to thank Panther Nation for the crowd that was there Saturday. It was electric. The Panther Pitt [student section] did a great job. We always say we need everybody, and that crowd was good. They caused communication errors. Everyone on our sideline was excited for it. That was what Heinz Field should look like on game day for Pitt Panther football games. Overall, I'm happy with the game. When you watch the tape on Sunday and go through each phase you see that there are so many things that we can clean up. As I said after the game, offensively it was like our first game. There are plays that we left out there. I think we played a really good first half. The second half was really a different ballgame. I don't know if we lightened up but there were a lot of plays left on the field that we could have made. That was probably the disappointing thing when you go back and watch the tape the next day. As I told our kids last night, that game is done with. We are moving on to Oklahoma State this week--a top 20 team going into the season. They had a tough game last week where they lose on an officiating error at the end of the game. In my eyes they won the game; they are still a top 20 team. They are well-coached, very athletic and can run. They are probably the best team we've played to this point in our season for sure. They are athletic across the board. It's another non-conference game--the Big 12 versus the ACC this week. I think our guys liked that challenge last week. You saw how we stacked up against the Big Ten and now we get a chance to go out on the road in a tough environment and get it done."

On taking extra steps to put Penn State behind and avoid a letdown this week:

"Do I take any extra steps? No. That chapter is closed; we closed it last night. It's over with and we're going to move on to the next one. That's what we do. There's a 24-hour rule. You can have fun Saturday night and wake up in the morning with a smile. When they came in here at 4 o'clock on Sunday, they came in to work. It's game-on again, and we started the next week."

On freshman receiver Aaron Mathews playing against Penn State:

"We had planned on getting Aaron [Mathews] in the game. I texted Coach [Wayne] Wade [of Clairton] prior to the game and said we are getting him in. The week before I thought he was going to play but we just didn't get to it. I texted Wayne [Wade], `He's getting in this week, so keep your eyes open and don't miss it.' We had planned on getting him in this game and planned on playing him the week before. Sometimes you don't get everyone in the game that you want to. He was a guy that we said, `He is playing this week.' He did a nice job."

On how Pitt can get as excited for Oklahoma State as it was for Penn State:

"They only give us 12 opportunities, so we need to do it. I think that would be tough in basketball, playing 30 games. We only get 12 of them. We don't have to play Tuesday night and then get back up for a Friday night game. We have 10 guaranteed opportunities left and our job as coaches is to make sure that we are all up for the game. We're going to treat it just like we did last week. I told the team last night this is a big game because it's our next game. We're going to be excited for this one."

On using all of Pitt's offensive threats effectively in each game:

"All of our guys have skill and can run different plays. I felt bad for Jaymar [Parrish] after the game because we wanted to get him a couple of touches, too. He can move as well. He's special with the ball in his hands. We will spread it around a little more. Even Tre Tipton and Rafael Araujo-Lopes know what to do; it's not just the Quadree Henderson show. It was just a matter of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. Coach [Matt] Canada has a great feel for what he wants to do each game. All of those plays we have against Villanova, we still have in our playbook. We ran a couple Saturday as well. We're still going to go back to that. We just looked at personnel matchups and identified where we can confuse a team."

On areas the team can improve heading into Oklahoma State:

"Our communication needs to be better getting into the huddle. We only had one delay of game. We won the time of possession by 11. We were a tick late on the one penalty; they snapped it right at the whistle. Overall, there are a ton of improvements we need to make. If you look at the entire second half, there were many times we were one block away from taking it to the house. But it was a good game plan and there was a lot of great execution."

On Nathan Peterman and the passing game:

"It was solid. There were some things we left on the field in the running game. But when you rush for 350 yards, who wants to throw it? A lot of our passing game we haven't really seen yet I guess. I feel great about Nate [Peterman]. He was on fire. He had a super game and he played well enough for us to win a football game. Even the interception was not his fault. That ball hit Dontez [Ford] in the hands and the helmet. He had one overthrow on a break-contain pass. Nathan [Peterman] played a great game."

On what changed for Pitt in the second half:

"We were just sloppier. It was just a tale of two halves."

On preparing for Oklahoma State's spread attack:

"There are a bunch of different coverage adjustments we're going to have to make. They are fast and their wideouts can play. Quarterback Mason Rudolph runs the show and their two wideouts Jalen McCleskey and James Washington are blazers. There are some different things we need to do coverage-wise to eliminate the big plays. They like to chuck it deep, so we will be ready for that. They get into some max splits where they are really spreading you out. At the same time, we need to try to stop the run because they like to run the ball. It will be a challenge. They score a lot of points; they like to score points."

On if Oklahoma State is similar to the Baylor team that Michigan State played in the 2015 Cotton Bowl:

"They have some similarities; the Big 12 is like that. The Big 12 likes to throw the ball around. They are finesse-but-physical football teams. They all are in that league. The Big 12 has a lot of great football players and teams."

On facing Oklahoma State after its tough loss to Central Michigan:

"I'm not worried about their mindset; I only worry about our mindset. I would guess they are going to be pretty upset and angry. I would imagine we're going to be walking into an angry stadium on Saturday. I'm sure Coach Mike Gundy will have them ready to go like he always does. He's a heck of a football coach. He is an emotional guy and he will have those guys cranked up and ready to go."

On what coaches have focused on specifically while watching tape:

"We always linger on the negatives. Coaches are miserable people. We linger on all of the negatives unfortunately. We try to give a pat on the butt, but that's what we do. It doesn't matter how many points you win by or how many games you win in a row. There are always things that your opponent is going to see on tape. We have to fix that. People are looking for our weaknesses in all three phases. We don't want to show any weakness, so what we do is focus on the negatives."

On if he was satisfied with how Pitt limited Penn State from having many big plays:

"You're never satisfied. We can get a lot better. We made some plays and we missed some plays. Give their offense credit; they made some plays. We want to be better."

On Quintin Wirginis and Dennis Briggs in the third-down defensive package:

"'Q' [Wirginis] had a big sack last week, so he's done well for us. He can cover and he's smart. He can blitz and he's big and physical. Dennis Briggs has done a nice job as well. He started at the Star position [in that package] a year ago. Those guys have done a nice job."

On avoiding unsportsmanlike conduct penalties:

"We just have to be smart. We talked about composure going into the game. We need to be better this week."

On the reception he received from the community after the victory over Penn State:

"I haven't had a whole lot of time to have much contact with the outside world. I try to return all of my text messages I got. I returned them with a `Thanks, appreciate it, H2P.' I know everyone is happy out there. That's great, but if you focus on that, they [Oklahoma State] will punch you in the mouth the next week. We've got to move on. It's all about what can we do this week. You're only as good as the last Saturday afternoon."

On the former Pitt players who came back for the Penn State game:

"We had Tony Siragusa and some great players in our locker room after the game. Having Walt Harris in there was great. We brought back the old players from the '76 team. Tony Dorsett was running around in the locker room as happy as can be. There was a lot of fun in the locker room and it was great to have our former players back with us."

On players on the defense stepping up given the early injuries in the front seven:

"No doubt about it. Rori Blair stepped up. He had a very solid game. [James] Folston Jr. did some really good things out there. Bam [Bradley] had some really nice plays on defense and special teams. I think they will continue to get better. Saleem Brightwell played great, too. He is a physical guy that likes to mix it up. He is a good football player. He is in the mix."

On if he is paying attention to what goes on in the rest of the ACC:

"It depends on what time the game is. I try to watch as many of those games as I can. I watched the Virginia game and the Virginia Tech-Tennessee game. I try to keep an eye on what's going on. I knew North Carolina went and knocked another Big 10 team off. It was great to get a call from the Commissioner [John Swofford]. Whenever you get a call from the ACC commissioner saying, `Coach, good job,' it's a good thing. I was pleased, and I hope we have some more phone calls here in the future."

On how getting hoisted up by his players ranks among his favorite post-game celebrations:

"As a head football coach, I've never had that done. First place, for sure."

On if he expects freshman corner Damar Hamlin to play this season:

"There is a chance. There are still more guys ahead of him. We're playing to win. Whenever they are ready, they are ready."

On the rising number of sack totals defensively since he got to Pitt:

"I give credit to the coaches for coaching them up. I think we're keeping it simple enough that these guys can go play. Schemes are important, but if you don't have guys that are playing fast and confident then schemes don't mean anything. We teach them to know what to do and execute it quickly. We have guys that are buying in to what we are coaching and understand what is going on. That's the key factor."

Pitt Tight End Scott Orndoff
Pitt Defensive Lineman Tyrique Jarrett

--PITT--